The present invention relates to systems for X-ray testing or inspection of vehicle wheels which consist of a rim and an inner support structure, of the kind comprising an X-ray tube installed in a radiation-proof casing and a fixed X-ray screen with a post-positioned monitor, for complete transillumination of the wheel held by sections within the beam path of the X-ray tube, the axial rim halves and the inner support structure being transilluminated under rotation of the wheel into the momentary testing position, and a system for reception of the wheel fed in rim-down, for placing the same in the beam path as well as for ejection of the wheel element tested.
A known system for X-ray inspection of wheels of light metal for motor vehicles for detection of shrink holes, cracks and the like, comprises a gripper mechanism whereby a wheel is grasped on a feed belt, lifted off and placed in the system. To this end, the wheel which is to be grasped must be separated from the line of wheels arriving on a feed belt and commonly impinging on each other, and pre-centred. The wheel fed in is deposited in the testing area of the system and is taken over by a handling mechanism which places the wheel in the momentary partially sloping testing position and holds the same during transillumination. During the testing operation, only part of a peripheral section of the rim is tested, that is to say substantially the one half of the rim width in the one testing position and the other half of the rim width in another testing position, and in a third testing position of the wheel its inner support structure carrying the rim is transilluminated, that is to say equally in part or else totally so, depending on the diametrical dimension of the wheel element. The shadow picture of the wheel transilluminated which appears on the X-ray screen of the radioscopy appliance is transmitted to a monitor so that the wheel may be inspected visually for faults incurred during the casting or setting stages. After completion of the inspection, the wheel is again set down by the handling mechanism and picked up and removed by the gripper mechanism or another system, whereupon the gripper mechanism feeds the next wheel element into the device.
The said gripper mechanism inclusive of the devices for isolating and pre-centring the wheel element, the handling mechanism as well as--if applicable--the separate ejection device inclusive of all control systems for these devices, represent a considerable structure complexity with commensurate costs for production, operation and maintenance. Primarily however, these systems and devices require an expenditure of time for their actions, which must be evaluated as an idle period lost to the actual X-ray testing operation, whereby the total cycling period for testing a separate wheel element is increased considerably.
It is an object of the invention to improve systems of the kind referred to above, to the effect that the idle period of a testing cycle for a wheel are shortened substantially under simplification of the structure of the system.